June 2008 Cyber Criminals Becoming Increasingly Professional

New Internet Security Research Reveals that Hackers are Adopting New Business-Like Strategies to Successfully Perform Malicious Activity

The latest Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR)  released today by MJC’s Security Partner, Symantec concludes that cyber criminals are increasingly becoming more professional – even commercial – in the development, distribution and use of malicious code and services.

While cybercrime continues to be driven by financial gain, cyber criminals are now utilizing more professional attack methods, tools and strategies to conduct malicious activity.
During the reporting period Symantec detected an increase in cyber criminals leveraging sophisticated toolkits to carry out malicious attacks. One example of this strategy was MPack, a professionally developed toolkit sold in the underground economy.

Once purchased, attackers could deploy MPack’s collection of software components to install malicious code on thousands of computers around the world and then monitor the success of the attack through various metrics on its online, password protected control and management console. MPack also exemplifies a coordinated attack, which Symantec reported as a growing trend.

 “In the last several Internet Security Threat Reports, Symantec discussed a significant shift in attackers motivated from fame to fortune,” said Arthur Wong, senior vice president, Symantec Security Response and Managed Services. “The Internet threats and malicious activity we are currently tracking demonstrate that hackers are taking this trend to the next level by making cybercrime their actual profession, and they are employing business-like practices to successfully accomplish this goal.”

“As the global cyber threat continues to grow, it has never been more important to remain vigilant and informed on the evolving threat landscape,” said Dan Lohrmann, chief information security officer, State of Michigan. “Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report continues to provide us with critical information on the most current online security trends, helping us better protect our state's infrastructure and citizen information.”

Additional Key Findings:
The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Volume XII covers the reporting period of Jan. 1, 2007, through June 30, 2007.

• Credit cards were the most commonly advertised commodity on underground economy servers, making up 22 percent of all advertisements; bank accounts were in close second with 21 percent.
• Symantec documented 237 vulnerabilities in Web browser plug-ins. This is a significant increase over 74 in the second half of 2006, and 34 in the first half of 2006.
• Malicious code that attempted to steal account information for online games made up 5 percent of the top 50 malicious code samples by potential infection. Online gaming is becoming one of the most popular Internet activities and often features goods that can be purchased for real money, which provides a potential opportunity for attackers to benefit financially.
• Spam made up 61 percent of all monitored e-mail traffic, representing a slight increase over the last six months of 2006 when 59 percent of e-mail was classified as spam.
• Theft or loss of computer or other data-storage medium made up 46 percent of all data breaches that could lead to identity theft. Similarly, Symantec’s IT Risk Management Report found that 58 percent of enterprises expect a major data loss at least once every 5 years.

About the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report

The semiannual Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), covers the six-month period from and is based on Symantec data collected from more than 40,000 sensors deployed in more than 180 countries in addition to a database that covers more than 22,000 vulnerabilities affecting more than 50,000 technologies from more than 8,000 vendors.
Symantec also reviews more than 2 million decoy accounts that attract e-mail messages from 20 different countries around the world allowing Symantec to gauge global spam and phishing activity.

MJC &  Symantec in partnership

MJC has been a partner with Symantec for a number of years due to Symantec global reputation as a market leader in the deployment of new security solutions. Symantec is a global leader in infrastructure software, enabling businesses and consumers to have confidence in a connected world. The company helps customers protect their infrastructure, information and interactions by delivering software and services that address risks to security, availability, compliance and performance.

For more information on MJC’s partnership with Symantec ort to arrange a free consultation please contact our marketing team on 0870 0660663 or click here